The Great Britain X - 29/04/17 to 07/05/17

Which equates to more than a full day's work for most ordinary people and have you considered they may have had other arrangements in place is the assumption they were finishing their day at York. Hard work being support crew but not as hard as drinking all that booze on the train eh? Anyway, we don't know why NRM couldn't oblige so it's all speculation.

 

Well said Ian, far to much corporate back slapping on here

 

Just been looking at the times. Big Al said 60103 continuing to Newcastle was requested. Allowing for prepping and disposing of the loco, the support crew would have been looking at something like a 16 hour day and much, much longer if the loco had gone through to Edinurgh. A big ask for guys who weren't expecting to go beyond York. Had Edinburgh been the original plan, I suspect a relief support crew would have been available at York.

 

While the novelty of 'Scotsman' on the mainline is now declining I'm sure that all its moves still require advance planning to assess things such as trespass risk- Sending it on to Edinburgh from York at less than 24 hours' notice may not be as easy as with some locos.
Add into that the support crew considerations and I'm not surprised at all that it stopped at York.

Appreciate the disappointment for the passengers on the train but given the uncertainty surrounding No.9 in recent weeks maybe the best option would have been to have a substitute in the pipeline some time ago...

Jon

 

A planned relief support crew would probably have been needed whether 60009 or 60103 took the train so the logistics were likely not much different, especially as there is common support for both locos? I do not therefore think it was a support crew issue that stopped 60103 going beyond York, probably more of a administrative thing.

 

As 60009 comes with its own support crew not sure of the point you are making, as the NRM don't let go anywhere without a minder cannot imagine that they would've happy with a third party support crew.

 

What substitutes? Still a little light on powerful locos. Agree that the risk with 60009 was always present.

 

The point being both locos currently have engineering support in common so theoretically there may have been some scope for co-operation. Academic anyway as it didn't happen.

 

Ironically 60163 was in the vicinity too and in a more open-minded environment may have been called upon.

 

46233 since it is due to haul train back from Glasgow might have been a possibility.

 

On another trip yesterday to Carlisle.

 

The K1 at Perth about 15 minutes ago... 37685 is on the front. Not sure where 47746 will go, unless both the 37 and 47 will work light to Inverness?

James

 

60163 was working the North Briton and didn't get into Newcastle until 18.10. so not an option even if they could have waved a wand and got a support crew ready

 

Firebox repairs at Crewe not quite complete?

 

Other support crews have made up the numbers, when their loco has been unavailable, in the past and the replacement loco does not have sufficient people available.

 

From our members onboard, how has the day been so far?? Hoped we'd get some decent reporting on GBX. So far it's been almost non-existent.

 

Might have been the case or gauging.
Since the trains is only 10 Coaches ( from one of the photos)the load would have been suitable for either of the Jubilees subject to gauging and support crew availability.

 

Not sure what is going on at Perth. Class 37 now on the stock. Black 5 somewhere south of the station and the K1 still in the loop. Light diesel loco move showing cancelled on RTT.

 

37 just detached the black 5 support coach.

 

If the loaded test run of number 9 had gone very badly or been a day earlier, maybe a Plan B for York-Edinburgh might have been feasible as happened for day 2. It's a bit like the Les Ross situation, all eggs in one basket, and something happened too late. You need a large slice of luck to be able to tick all the boxes for a last minute response. That's no consolation for those experiencing six hours from York to Edinburgh behind a 47 though.

That schedule and load--nothing a good B1 couldn't have handled! Didn't they do a freight from London to Hull and return because of weight restrictions at Selby or Goole?